Like Rodney Dangerfield, Pontiac's Fiero never seemed to get any respect. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Canadian Fauxrarri isn't going to change that, but does this one at least come with a price that's respectable?

While today's car is an imitation Italian, yesterday's five grand Fiat Brava Wagon was the real deal. Of course for some that's like saying I don't just have a social disease, I have Type 2 herpes!, and that fact was reflected in the Fiat's 80% Crack Pipe loss.

Fiat is now back in the US market with the diminutive and sassy 500, but most people buying those…
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When it was first introduced, Pontiac was forced to position the mid-engined Fiero as an economy commuter because Chevrolet had gotten their collective panties in a bunch over its potential deleterious effect on the sale of Corvettes. Of course, this wasn't the first time that the arrowhead brand had been cock blocked by the bow tie brigade.

Way back in the sixties, John DeLorean's Pontiac Banshee XP-833, with its first from an American maker belt-driven SOHC straight six, was designed to slot under Chevy's Corvette. It came within an RCH of production too before GM brass monkeys killed the Stingray-aping car over the fear that it crossed a little too far onto the vaunted ‘Vette's turf. No word on whether DeLorean ever woke up with a camel hump head in his California King, however.

This rebodied 198? Fiero, sporting what appears to be a carb'd SBC, may just let you go hunting Corvettes, and potentially make them pay. Now, first off, this Fiero rocks a body kit that is evocative of Ferrari's F355. Sort of. I mean, it's plainly obvious what the inspiration was, but the proportions are all whacked. It's sort of like an 8-year old putting on his dad's suit and then trying to get busy with the old man's girlfriend - it won't take much dry humping before she figures out something is amiss.

But that's not the point. It's less that this Fiero is trying to pass for Italian - actually I think it looks more like a Ginetta G32 - but more that it advertises that this is no ordinary Pontiac. The engine backs that up, having replaced the iron puke, 2.8 V6, or whatever it was the factory plugged in there, is a transverse-mounted SBC topped by a brawny double pumper. There's a guy named Archie in the Midwest that does these kind of conversions all the time, and if this one is half-way well thought out, it should make for one fast Fiero.

That V8 is attached to some sort of manual gearbox - the ad is notably light on details - which is actuated by a stickity shifter poking out of the top of the tall center console. That Fiero element remains, as do the seats, however all of those have been recovered in two-tone leather or vinyl, and the dash has been effectively reshaped to approximate that of the role model F355. Despite all that, it appears reasonably professionally, and even tastefully, done.

The rest of the 112K (this is Canada after all) car also seems well assembled, if still a little awkwardly proportioned. The seller is providing along with the car an affidavit noting its appraisal at $50,000. Now, a quick scan of eBay shows that REAL F355s can be had for close to that amount, so it's potentially a good thing that the car is currently being offered for a slightly less nosebleed inducing $29,995 Canadian.

And before you start with the what's that in American, about $2.35? jokes, remember that the Canadian economy is now stronger than that of the US, so let's keep things in perspective.

One perspective that you don't necessarily need to keep is on the value of this ‘95 Fiero - and yes, there were no 1995 Fieros, I'm assuming that's when it went through its transformation. Regardless, what do you think of a Lincoln-shy of thirty grand for this V8 Fuaxrrari Fiero? Is it interesting enough to warrant that? Or, is that price just another win for the boys at Chevy?